


When I Grow Up

by ExpressAndAdmirable



Series: The Heroes of Light [2]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types, Final Fantasy I
Genre: Backstory, Bullying, Child Abuse, Gen, Parent-Child Relationship, Tiefling, vicious mockery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 14:56:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13149054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExpressAndAdmirable/pseuds/ExpressAndAdmirable
Summary: Aviva gets into a fight at school and nothing goes as expected. Contains: bullying, striking a child.





	When I Grow Up

Split lip, scuffed elbows, bloody knees. A skull sore and throbbing where horns connected to bone. And one stinging cheek, streaked with dirt and half-dried tears.

_Do you realise what you’ve done?_

She wasn’t sorry, at least not in the way her mother wanted her to be. He had deserved it. Taunting her, jeering at her, pulling and pushing and laughing at her. He and his other Human friends had thrown rocks at her on her first day of school and hadn’t let up since. Once he had ripped a chunk of her hair from her scalp and thrown it in her face. So she felt no remorse. He had deserved it.

The event itself was crystal clear in mind, even through the blur of tears and the haze of rage. The boy had found her in the schoolyard and proudly announced he had followed her home the night before. Now he knew where she lived, he told her. He was going to get his father’s sword and come to her house and kill her and her mother and all the stupid street cats she loved so much. He laughed. His friends laughed.

She snapped.

_You can’t let them see you crack._

A moment later they were on the ground. She was screaming wordlessly, fists slamming into his face and chest. He grabbed her horn and threw her off him, but she rounded on him before he could stand and sank another punch directly into his stomach. His own fist connected with her jaw, sending stars across her vision. But he wasn’t going to win this time. He wasn’t going to win ever again.

Wiping the blood from her lip, she unleashed a string of vicious curses in her native tongue. She wasn’t even entirely sure where she had learned them, but they felt somehow right. The effect was instantaneous; for just a moment the boy’s eyes glazed over, his arm freezing mid-swing and his features contorting with pain. It was all the distraction she needed, and one more punch sent him sprawling in the dirt.

_We have to be better than they think we are._

The rest of the children stood in stunned silence. Her pulse rang in her ears, muffling the approaching steps of the headmistress. She felt herself being grabbed by the arm and dragged from the schoolyard. She didn’t resist. She didn’t speak. She waited.

_We don’t have a choice. We don’t even have the illusion of a choice._

Someone left the school. Shortly after, they returned with her mother. The headmistress spoke with her in stern, hushed tones. It went on for awhile. Then her mother grabbed her by the same arm and they left.

Her mother said nothing for the entire walk home. Neither did she. As her own rage cooled, she could sense her mother’s building, and she was heartened. Her mother would understand, her mother always understood. That boy deserved it. He was cruel and mean and she couldn’t take his abuse anymore. She was justified, even if the school wouldn’t say so.

They reached her mother’s shop. Her mother produced her ring of keys and unlocked the door with one hand, never letting go of her daughter. Once inside, her mother finally let go to close the door behind them. She started to speak, to defend herself–

Her mother slapped her.

It was the first time her mother had ever raised a hand to her in all ten years of her life. She blinked, speechless, slowly raising a hand to her cheek. Her mother’s hands balled into furious fists at her sides, frightened tears threatening the corners of her eyes.

Finally, her mother spoke. Not the words of understanding and compassion she had expected, but a condemnation, a rebuke. All the deep fears her mother kept inside came tumbling out; fear of Humans, of their own kind, of their heritage, of their place in the world. She felt the cold horror of her reality dawn on her.

_You cannot embrace the darkness we come from. It just proves them right._

She ran.

_If you give in, you’re no better than they think you are._

She rounded a corner into a back alley behind the market. A quiet place, one of her preferred haunts. She leaned against a wall and sank to the ground, her mother’s words echoing in her head. Was the world truly that unfair? Was she really doomed if she made even the slightest mistake? Was she really… evil?

A tiny mew startled her back to reality. The source of the sound, a small, mangy brown cat, appeared from behind a stack of crates and made its way towards her. She recognised this one; it was the runt of the litter. She had fed it many times and chased the bigger cats away. She had even named it: Bean. The cat hopped into her lap, blinked, yawned, and curled itself into a ball.

Tentatively, she ran her hand through the little cat’s fur. It purred. Something unlocked inside her.

She began to cry.

**Author's Note:**

> Title song by Fever Ray.
> 
> Follow me on Tumblr at @expressandadmirable for a proper table of contents for the Heroes campaign, commissioned character art, text-based roleplay snippets and more!


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